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Neither snow, nor rain, or a strike by stagehands can keep the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra from playing.

Originally scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night concert on Wednesday, October 2, the Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin “popped up” in an unscheduled appearance at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall.

And more than 2,200 area residents popped into the Kimmel Center for a freewheeling and free concert.

But first, would-be maestros got to conduct a group of Orchestra musicians, for the chance to conduct the entire ensemble onstage during the concert. The winner, nine-year-old Madeline Church, got conducting tips beforehand from Associate Conductor Cristian Macelaru and some onstage advice from Yannick as she led the Orchestra in the finale from the Overture to William Tell by Rossini.

The concert opened with Tchaikovsky’s Marche slave and then the audience got to pick the next selection, Mozart’s Overture to Don Giovanni, choosing among that work and the composer’s overtures to The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte.

After Ravel’s Bolero the Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, which was followed by a standing ovation.

As a special surprise, Yannick invited the audience, and the Orchestra, to take photos and videos during the encore, but not before he photographed the crowd and tweeted the picture to all his followers.

Principal Tuba Carol Jantsch even got into the act, shooting this video from her vantage point.

The pop-up concert also won raves on social media and in emails the Orchestra received. Here are a few samples:

"WOW!  Fantastic! I've never seen such energy in Verizon Hall. The bright colored shirts on the musicians gave the stage a new vibrancy.  The program, as always, was spectacular. Yannick was captivating.  It was full house of families, business people, students, people off the streets ... nothing short of magical. I'm so happy I went. Kudos to the POA!!!  Absolutely fabulous!"

"…Whomever thought of it is really starting to understand the “next generation” of concert goers. And the 4 minutes of open taping – another great idea!"

"My husband and I are subscribers. I was feeling blue that I couldn't go to the Carnegie Hall gig. I could hardly believe my ears when I heard the announcement on WRTI. I brought 3 teenagers with me and they loved it! Thank you so much for an unforgettable evening!"

"This was my favorite concert EVER with the Philadelphia Orchestra. A lovefest all around from beginning to end!"

We hope you’ll have the opportunity to pop in at our next pop up.